How an Injury is Sidelining Super Smash Bros. U

Paul Tassi
, ContributorNews and opinion about video games, technology and the internetOpinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Many are wondering why we've heard relatively little about the new Super Smash Bros. title announced along with the Wii U in 2011. Many hoped it would be a launch title, as all three of the previous Super Smash Bros. titles are widely regarded as one of the best games for their respective systems. But all that's followed so far has been silence, and we've heard little to nothing about the development of the game since that initial announcement years ago.

There are likely many reasons for the delay, but there's one that could be more pressing than the rest. It's unusual, but it's actually a physical injury that is helping to make the game move more slowly than it could. The wounded party in question is Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai. The man has a repetitive strain injury (RSI) that's severely affecting his ability to build and test the game. He spoke to Famitsu (via Polygon) about what exactly is going on.

"I think the one word I've said the most this year, by far, is 'Ow!'" Not only am I getting calcific tendonitis, but they've also found what are apparently several ruptures in the muscles. My upper arm hurts, and there's this chronic dull pain in my elbow joint as well. On the lower arm, there's this feeling of fatigue around the flexor muscles that turns into pain when I use a keyboard or game controller with my fingers."

"There's no instant cure for it, so all I can do is either block the pain with injections or put my arm in a cast to keep the ruptures from spreading. I was told that the important thing was to keep my arm as rested as possible. In order to get it fully healed, the only thing is to not use my right arm or hand. So not only am I using a trackball with my left hand; now I'm using it to eat, brush my teeth, wash my hair, and even drive as much as I'm able to."

He goes on to say that he can barely hold a controller to playtest the game, and when he does so, often has to play entirely with one hand. Hardly an ideal scenario. Granted he has a team to help him out with these sorts of duties, but Sakurai obviously has a huge part in whether or not the game sinks or swims. To have him crippled in this way is very detrimental to development.

Nintendo needs Super Smash Bros. U (or whatever it ends up being called) to be a hit. The series has been one of their best across their last three systems, and it could be the shot in the arm the Wii U needs (no pun intended) in order to spur sales. Replay value of every Smash Bros. game is always off the charts, and it would encourage continued use of the console week after week.

I sincerely hope that Sakurai is able to heal from this issue, not just to give us a new Super Smash Bros, but for his own sake, as it sounds excruciating and frustrating.